Many power tools that are used for tightening and loosening fasteners have difficulty fitting in tight spaces. In particular, existing impact tools may not be able to reach certain fasteners due to the size and/or orientation of the tool head and the output drive. In contrast, many tools that do fit in tight spaces may not be able to accomplish tightening and loosening of fasteners effectively and/or safely.
Various impact tools have been proposed in an attempt to address the foregoing concerns. Impact tools generally include a motor coupled to an impact mechanism that converts torque provided by the motor into a series of powerful rotary blows directed from one or more hammers to an anvil that is integrally formed with (or otherwise drives rotation of) an output drive of the impact tool. In angle impact tools, the output drive typically rotates about an output axis that is non-parallel to a motor axis about which an output shaft of the motor rotates.
The housing that supports the output drive, the impact mechanism, and other drive train components of existing angle impact tools has typically had a “clamshell” construction, in which the housing is partitioned into two sections along a parting plane that is parallel to both the output axis and the motor axis of the tool (e.g., a parting plane similar to the cross-section planes used in FIGS. 4, 7, and 10 of the present disclosure). However, this “clamshell” construction of the housing can result in poor alignment of the various drive train components, as well as difficulty in assembling and/or servicing the angle impact tool.